Pearson Says Off-Field Antics Hold T.O. Back

ALLEN (CBS SPORTS) – The Allen Wranglers of the Indoor Football League released Terrell Owens last week, citing the professional equivalent of irreconcilable differences. Same story, different day for T.O., one of the NFL’s most productive wide receivers during a 15-year NFL career that included stops in San Francisco, Philadelphia, Dallas, Buffalo and Cincinnati. Ultimately, the league decided that Owens’ on-field talents weren’t worth the locker-room and sideline hassles, and he hasn’t played an NFL down since December 2010.

And now, after just three months, the Wranglers have come to the same conclusion. T.O. is reportedly considering legal action against the organization. But whatever happens, his already slim chance of mounting an NFL comeback is officially dead.

Drew Pearson, the former Cowboys wide receiver who now serves as the Wranglers’ general manager, confirmed as much during a recent interview. “To me, there’s no question [Owens] could play in the NFL,” Pearson said last Wednesday on ESPN radio. “The NFL now, they try to run you out of the league when you’re 30 years old. He’s 38. When you’re 38, it’s very difficult, to try to get back into the NFL, especially when you’re coming off an injury like Terrell was.”

But it’s not age that’s holding Owens back. It’s everything else.

“It’s not what happens between the lines with Terrell,” said Pearson. “It’s how he handles things outside the lines, being Terrell Owens, dealing with the fans, being a good teammate. That’s what we were really concerned with developing with Terrell. Going from T.O. to Terrell Owens. But it’s so hard to get to close to Terrell. He lets certain people in. My opinion is he doesn’t let the right people in to tell him the right things. I didn’t want to enable him. I didn’t want to be another one of those guys that have been telling him things all his life that he just wants to hear. I was trying to be that guy that tells him things that he needed to hear.”